Calls for citizen scientists

The Internet has made it a lot easier for a lot more people to participate in scientific studies, especially ones that call for widespread observation of natural events. We're talking about things like weather, plants flowering and birds nesting. The term coined to describe these volunteers is "citizen scientists." It's got a ring to it. I've seen several calls lately for help from these regular citizens who happen to have a keen interest in the natural world.

Just today the Cornell Ornithology Lab put out a request for help in tracking bird nesting activity.

Here's a blurb from the press release:

"As a NestWatch participant, you’ll visit one or more nests or nest boxes every 3 to 4 days and report what you see at www.NestWatch.org—when the first eggs are laid, total number of eggs and young, and when the hatchlings take their first faltering flights. After signing up, you’ll first do a bit of online training to understand how best to observe nesting birds without disturbing them. You’ll learn the best time to check nests and how to avoid accidentally leading predators to them."

It sounds fun and it's adding to a much larger effort, as the Ornithology Lab points out:

“It’s only when many thousands of volunteers are collecting data over a vast area that scientists can fully measure the impacts of environmental change and land-use on breeding birds,” says Jason Martin, NestWatch project leader. “Take climate change, for example. We need a massive amount of data to investigate the potential impacts that altered climatic patterns may have on breeding birds. If birds start nesting sooner, as some species are doing, they may eventually become out of sync with their food supplies.”